January 14 looks to be a big day for Samsung, as it’s holding an event where we’re expecting to see the Samsung Galaxy S21 range. But alon...
January 14 looks to be a big day for Samsung, as it’s holding an event where we’re expecting to see the Samsung Galaxy S21 range. But alongside that we’ll probably also see the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag.
This is rumored to be a Bluetooth-powered object tracker, that would work a lot like the popular Tile trackers and the long-rumored Apple AirTags – essentially it looks to be a small object that you can attach to a keyring or lanyard, or chuck in a purse or wallet, so that if you ever lose those valuables you could find them via your phone using the SmartTag's Bluetooth.
While nothing has yet been confirmed about the Galaxy SmartTag, it's been leaked enough that we have a good idea of what to expect, all of which you’ll find below.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? A Tile-like tracker from Samsung
- When is it out? Likely to be announced on January 14
- How much will it cost? Possibly around £14 / $18 / AU$24
Samsung Galaxy SmartTag release date and price
The Samsung Galaxy SmartTag is rumored to be launching on January 14, alongside the Samsung Galaxy S21 range.
While that’s not yet confirmed, it certainly seems like it must be landing soon, as it's been quite extensively leaked now, as well as having been certified in multiple places (something which usually happens close to launch) and even getting a mention in the Samsung SmartThings app.
An announcement on January 14 would almost certainly mean the SmartTag arrives before Apple’s AirTags, despite the latter having been rumored for a lot longer. But we’ll probably see those this year too, so Samsung could have some real competition.
The price of the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag looks like it could be competitive though. While not confirmed, Ishan Agarwal (a leaker with a good track record) has told 91Mobiles that the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag will cost around 15 euros (roughly £14 / $18 / AU$24).
That might if anything make the SmartTag slightly cheaper than Tile's offerings, but at the very least should put it in the same ballpark.
Design and features
While nothing has yet been confirmed about the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag, we have a good idea of what to expect.
The biggest leak takes the form of photos, showing the tracker in the flesh. You can see that it’s essentially a small black piece of plastic, with the Galaxy SmartTag name on it, and a hole to attach it to a keyring or lanyard.
Unsurprisingly it looks a lot like a Tile tracker, and like the Tile Pro and Tile Mate it should have a user-replaceable 3V CR2032 battery, based on a South Korean certification listing.
That listing points to the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag coming in both black and oatmeal shades, and having a button that you can press to make your phone ring loudly, so you can locate your handset. That’s on top of the main feature we’re expecting from the SmartTag, which is to allow you to locate any object it's attached to via a companion app on your phone.
Based on the certification it will use Bluetooth 5.1 for this, which could theoretically allow for tracking devices up to 400 meters away indoors, and 1000 meters away outdoors.
There’s no mention of LTE, GPS, or other advanced tracking features though, so if your lost item ends up further away you might be out of luck.
Having said that, we’ve also seen reference to the Samsung SmartTag in the Samsung SmartThings app, which is designed for controlling your smart home. More importantly though this app also has a ‘SmartThings Find’ feature, which can help you locate a lost phone even if it’s offline, by allowing other Samsung Galaxy devices in the vicinity to detect a Bluetooth Low Energy signal that it puts out.
So a Samsung Galaxy SmartTag might also be able to communicate with the army of Galaxy devices out in the world to help you find your lost belongings.
The reference to the SmartTag in the SmartThings app notes that it "will help you keep track of objects like wallets, keys, earbuds, and more", as expected, and also includes an image (below) showing a design much like the one above.
Finally, while we’ve noted the possibility of black and oatmeal colors above, a leaker had previously told 91Mobiles to expect black and white shades. Either way, it looks very likely that black will be one of the color options, with both leaks and the photos above suggesting as much.
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